“We will issue sukuk in 2011 for the group in Bahrain between $200 and $500 million,” Adnan Yousif told Reuters on the sidelines of a banking conference in Beirut.
“It is a medium-term sukuk for five years and it will help financial institutions to attract new clients to take part in these sukuk,” he added.
Sukuk bonds are a flagship product of the Islamic finance industry. Analysts say the Gulf-based Islamic bond market is poised for revival as large corporate and supra-national issues come to market.
Since August, the region has seen offerings as varied as Kuveyt Turk’s three-year $100 million Islamic bond – the first sukuk out of secular Turkey – to Qatar Islamic Bank’s $750 million sukuk, which market insiders say was a runaway success. The sukuk market is also awaiting Al-Baraka’s $200 million sukuk by the end of the year and more from Jordan and Turkey.
Yousif said his bank was still interested in the Asian market and he planned to go to Indonesia and Malaysia in December to meet banks there.
The merger of the bank’s Pakistani unit operations with Emirates Global Islamic Bank was finalized at the end of last month, and the new entity has begun operating under the name of Al Baraka Bank Pakistan Limited.
“[The merger in] Pakistan has been achieved, and the money has also been transferred … Now we are heading to Indonesia and then Malaysia. But Indonesia comes first,” he said. Indonesia is becoming an increasingly attractive market for Islamic finance since the government took steps to change laws to accommodate the nearly $1 trillion industry.
Source : http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=121867#axzz16LmwdLqH - Nov 26, 2010
